Mohacsy's Safe Portfolio Member Forum

[RichardTC]

That would require Buffet to value unbias honesty above his political views. That's not going to happen. And I don't mean that as a slam against Buffet's character. I'm just pointing out that he's made a calculated decision to advance his political views on taxation at the expense of full transparency.

I have no doubt that he pays a lower income tax rate than his secretary. But that is because his income is primarily dividends and capital gains while his secretary's income is primarily wages. Buffet believes that the rich should be taxed at a higher rate on their wage income and he phrases his comments to further that objective.

Buffet knows that sound bites are more influential than nuanced arguments. And the fact that he's going to be largely unaffected by increases in tax rate on wage income makes it easier for him to advance that argument. While his statements are misleading and somewhat disingenuous, they're consistent with his political objectives.

Examples like this are one of the many reasons I've become jaded with politics over the years. I've seen people manipulate statistics and facts to advance a political view that isn't supported by an unbiased assessment of empirical evidence. And yet these partisan hacks are able to sway public opinion because the average person doesn't do any due diligence. They hear a sound bite supported by a misleading statistic and they believe it. It's infuriating but it happens every day.

And even though I'm very Republican leaning in my politcal views, I see the same thing happening in my own party. Every few years I see a resurgence in the flat tax idea. While I favor a simplification of the US tax code, it is not possible to enact a revenue neutral flat tax without increasing the real rate paid by lower income earners. And while I believe that the current system is insanely skewed to advance social objectives, I do believe that progressive taxation rates are a net benefit to society.